The second poem we studied this past week during meditation class was written by the Desert Father Symeon the New Theologian (The Book of Mystical Chapters; Shambhala; trans. John Anthony McGuckin.).

This poem begins:

You need to gain three things before all others:
The first is freedom from the anxieties of life;
the second is a clear conscience;
the third is complete detachment,
such that your thoughts no longer buzz around
materialities.